On November 15th, our Vancouver civic election came to a close with a landslide win for Gregor Robertson and the Vision Vancouver party. Gregor won the mayor’s seat by a 14 point margin, while the party sent 15 of 16 candidates to City Council, School Board and Park Board. The NPA, the traditional ruling party of Vancouver politics, was handed a devastating defeat, electing only a single candidate elected to council.

Like the presidential election, the theme of our campaign was change. However, the change we are seeing recently goes well beyond a simple swing in political leanings from left vs right or from one candidate to the next. The new change represents the leading edge of a new emergent consciousness. It is not coincidental that Barack Obama’s personage, and transparent, participative campaign emerged hand in hand with a massive global economic downturn, a sharpening environmental crisis, and wars of scarcity that have not been experienced in our generation. The traditional systems of supply side economics, oil based economies, closed door politics, and a singular focus on bottom line deliverables are the cause of the frightening and emerging challenges we’re now facing, and it will take nothing less than a complete remaking of our economy, media, culture, and politics to meet those challenges.

As American philosopher Ken Wilber says, new modes of consciousness arise, and are supported by, new economic and informational systems. You can’t support an industrial economy with papyrus scrolls. Likewise, you can’t support the emerging post modern and integral consciousness with the strict empirical measure of short term bottom line gain.

Obama has seemingly embraced this emerging world fully. After running the most participative and publicly engaged campaign in history, he’s carrying that forward as President Elect. Change.gov is the first hint of a new style of world politics and democracy that people will be demanding in the decades to come, and as the National Post reported, he has committed the White House to the continuation of this approach by establishing a new cabinet position with a mandate for transparency and the ongoing engagement of the American public.

Gregor Robertson has the potential to create similar change on a civic level. Time will tell if he chooses to do so. For now, my work with Vision is complete and I’m grateful for having been able to contribute in a small way to the betterment of the city, and with luck, to the first steps in reshaping the way government works.


PS – special thanks to Jason & Jordan of Communicopia; Christine, Catherine, Emily, Darko and Phillip of Agentic; and Tim and Nicholas at Biro Creative. You kept me going throughout the campaign.

Most political news in Vancouver has been swirling around the $100 million loan that is reportedly been authorized as a bailout cushion to either Millennium Development Corp (the company building the Olympic Village) or Fortress (the American lender funding the project).

Despite the host of petty questions that have gained centre stage in the drama - who leaked the info, is this political grandstanding by Vision, is it a distraction from Gregor Robertson's $173 transit fine - the key question for most voters is the one concerning democratic principle.

There are two ways of looking at the situation. In broad terms they fall along two distinct philisophical lines:

1. The corporate meritocracy: NPA argues that the details concerning the $100 million loan are part of ongoing negotiations with the developers and financial backers and that strict confidence is necessary to protect the city and to obtain the best outcome for tax payers. Implicit in this statement are two points, 1) that elected municipal officials are the best stewards of public finances, and 2) as such should be trusted to manage city affairs to the best possible outcome for all.

2. The transparent democracy: Vision argues that because of the high value of the loan, and significant questions about the information upon which the authorization of the loan was based, the loan needs to be re-examined in public to ensure that the correct decisions are being made and that they were made for the right reasons. Implicit in this statment are two points, 1) that elected officials are subject to personal motivations and influence and 2) transparency is needed to maintain accountability to the public and a genuine democratic process.

This is the real issue Vancouver voters are facing.

On the backdrop of these two perspectives we have the following question marks:

• the magnitude of the loan guarantee itself and the means of covering it
• the role of the city to disburse signficant public funds
  
• the city CFO had significant concerns about the amount of risk in the project
• that same CFO has resigned under uncertain circumstances
• Millennium is in apparent financial trouble and has halted work on their project in West Vancouver, and their Nanaimo project is in trouble
  
• Fortress is in apparent financial trouble and is one of the lenders involved in a legal battle with Donald Trump over an unfinished Chicago skyscraper, they have seen their stock tumble this year, and they will be releasing their 3rd quarter report on Thursday
• The apparent conflict of interest between the NPA and Millennium in the lead up to the award of the contract

These are critical questions, and the way we choose to address and answer them ultimately defines how our elected democracies function. On the basis of these two philosophies, and in the midst of these questions, the NPA says that they should be trusted to make the right decisions. Vision says public accountability is necessary to ensure the right decisions are made. Which is correct?

The situation has arisen in the broader context of an American economic meltdown that threatens the entire world ecomony. A meltdown caused in large part by tax policy, deregulation, and public spending that all place increasing amounts of public funds into the hands of large corporations and the wealthiest citizens with little to no oversight.

In financially backing the $1 billion Olympic Village to the tune of almost 1/3rd - $290 million all in - The NPA's handling of the development represents an American model that is proving disastrously outdated.


Update November 13th, 2008: Fortress' third quarter report states greater than expected losses.

A shaky looking Peter Ladner fielded some tough questions from Global TV this afternoon over city council's authorization for a loan of up to $100 million to bailout Vancouver's Olympic Village.

During the interview, Ladner defended his refusal to divulge the details of the in-camera meeting that led to the potential loan. His spin may have carried the day had it not been for Global's damning follow up story.

Quoting documents released through Freedom of Information requests, the Global story implicates the former president of Ladner's NPA party, Paul Barbeau, with Armeco, the group who owns the Millennium Development Corp - developers of the Olympic Village and a potential recipients of the city's $100 million loan.

To quote:

"Millennium is the development arm of the Armeco Group. The NPA council picked Armeco's Millennium for the massive (Olympic Village) deal, and Paul Barbeau was the President of the NPA and the President of Armeco Construction Limited in the years prior to the award."

A fine spot for Vancouver tax payers. See the Ladner interview below, and click here for the video story on Barbeau (if it won't load, go here and select "NPA linked to project").

The municipal campaign is hitting high gear in Vancouver and online outreach a key part of the strategy to make Gregor Robertson the next Mayor of Vancouver.

Today we launched The Vision Map, an interactive city map that gives every voter the chance to have their voice heard and to show their support for Gregor Robertson and a new era of change at Vancouver City Hall.

More than a simply an online device, it is a front line call for change that lets visitors drop their name onto their local neighbourhood and send a strong message about the issues they care about the most. It's a clear message from the community to the Peter Ladner that business as usual is unacceptable and that the people of Vancouver want better.

Stop by, have a look, and if you live in Vancouver sign on and tell a friend.

I believe in a genuine free market where consumers are offered choices and business needs to compete in order to deliver the best product.  Most of us embrace this vision in one form or another, but in the hands of many right wing parties the idea often become bastardized.